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Chapter 34
Drink
Rachael needed a quiet spot. As much as she loved her overly energetic sister, there was only so much she could take of Michelle. She wouldn’t shut up about the guys and kept trying to get Rachael to confess to which one she liked.
She didn’t know who she liked. Choosing one of the guys was the last thing on Rachael’s mind at this point in time. It was beyond her how Michelle could be so interested, given what they were going through. Maybe in a few weeks but, right now, Rachael felt miserable.
She decided to do some exploring on her own to get herself familiar with the lair. She had to admit, it was beautiful. This station was never meant to be a simple stop. Whoever had developed it had intended it to be a destination. It was almost a pity that it was never finished, and forgotten. At least it served a good purpose now.
Rachael climbed the flight of stairs to the top where it was supposed to exit to the street. A solid concrete wall now stood where the exit would have been. Rachael sat down and leaned her back against it, closing her eyes. She just needed a moment.
After a while the sound of someone coming up the stairs had Rachael opening her eyes again. She decided that if it was Michelle, she was going to hit her in the stomach. However, the turtle who came up the stairs was not Michelle but Raphael, carrying a six pack of beer.
He stopped when he saw Rachael. He looked surprised to see her there. “What are you doing up here?”
“Getting away from Michelle,” Rachael answered flatly.
“I needed to get away from Mikey,” Raph chuckled. He looked back down the stairs. “I guess I’ll go. We’re not supposed to be alone together.”
“I’m in no mood for anything romantic,” Rachael replied. “Trust me, even if you tried, nothing’s gonna happen.”
Raph looked at her and his eye narrowed a little. “No offence, but you’re not the one I want. So I wouldn’t try anything.”
“Good,” Rachael snorted. “If you are anything like me, we would be awful together.”
Raph smiled. “I agree.” He walked up the last of the steps and sat down next to her. “This is a good spot to get away from everyone sometimes.” After popping the top off of one of the beers, Raph passed it to Rachael. “Drinking alone sucks. Having you here will help to keep me from drinking the whole pack myself.”
“Thanks,” Rachael accepted the beer and took a sip. It was the first time she had had beer that was cold. It was so much better that way. She looked over at Raph. “You really already have your eyes set on one of my sisters? We’ve only been here a week.”
Raph shrugged as he took a long drink from his bottle. “True we haven’t really gotten a chance to get to know ya. But, considering that you guys are girl versions of us, we all have a good idea which ones we would prefer.”
Rachael snorted. “I haven’t put any thought into it, to be honest.” She took a drink of her beer. “It’s the furthest thing from my mind.”
Raph gave her a sideways glance. “You are interested in being with a guy though. Right…? I mean… you’re not…. You know.”
“A lesbian?” Rachael asked, getting to the point. Raph simply gave an ‘I’m not judging’ shrug, drawing a half smile from Rachael as she shook her head. “No. I’m not into girls. I’m not good with expressing my emotions and I’m not into romantic shit. I’m not the kind of girl to swoon over a guy and daydream about love like Michelle is. On top of that, there is just too much going on right now.”
“You’re lying,” Raph stated, turning his head to look at her. “You want to be loved.”
Rachael sighed, clinched her jaw and looked up. “Okay fine. I do think about it at times but right now, hooking up with someone is not something I want to do. And, the part about not being good with my emotions is true.”
“I can tell.” Raph smiled. “You don’t even show much emotion in the way you talk. I’m not all that good with it either. I got a tough guy image to maintain.” He chuckled before finishing off the rest of his bottle and opened another one. “Opening yourself up is terrifying. It makes you vulnerable.” He looked down. “Being rejected is painful.”
“You say that like you’ve had the experience.” Rachael placed her empty bottle with the others and grabbed a new one. Then she pointed at Raph. “I know we’re bonding and all here but don’t make me regret prompting you to explain by getting all emotional.”
“I fell for a human girl a little over a year ago,” Raph admitted, shaking his head. “I won’t go into details. I thought…. I was wrong.” He looked over at Rachael. “I might hide my emotions but finding someone to love me and accept me has always been something I wanted. I was a hopeless romantic when I was a kid and then I learned not to be. I built walls.”
“Yeah,” Rachael said softly, nodding her head. “I was too.” She took a drink and then looked at the bottle as she spoke. “It became painful, knowing that it wasn’t going to happen. Over time I learned to shut it away. I pushed it all down until there was nothing left but anger.”
She looked at Raph. “I’m afraid to let myself hope again. What if none of your brothers want me? I don’t want to be the one who is settled for.”
Raph let out a soft chuckle. “I understand. I feel the same way. I think we all fear that a little.”
“What if we end up having to settle for each other?” Rachael asked.
Raph sighed. “I don’t… know.” He looked at her and offered a warm smile. “It’s not like it would be the worst thing. If it came to that, I’d be good to you…. We’d fight often, but I’d be good to you. But you don’t have to worry. One of my brothers likes you. I’m not going to say which one though.”
“You already said that you don’t want me and Mikey wants Michelle so that just leaves Leo and Tello.” Rachael snorted and shook her head. “I came up here to avoid talking about this shit.” She finished off her second bottle and picked up another. “So let’s change the subject. We’ve established that we both tend to push down our feeling out of fear of being hurt and replace it with anger. What else do we have in common?”
Raph let out a long burp as he opened his final beer. “Do you like sports?”
“Yes,” Rachael nodded. “Mostly football and hockey. Are the mainstream sports all men or women?”
“Men,” Raph answered. “But there are professional women’s sports.”
“It was the same on my world,” Rachael stated. “Maybe it’s because men are more aggressive, and as much as I hate to admit it, physically stronger. Tends to make things more entertaining.”
“You work out?” Raph asked before taking a drink.
Rachael looked over at him and flexed. “Have you looked at me? Of course I do.”
“I have weights you can use if you like.” Raphael smiled and let out a soft chuckle. “At least I think I still do. I haven’t used the lighter weights in years.” Rachael let out a snort and punched Raph’s arm which only made Raph laugh harder. “What? You had just admitted that males are physically stronger.”
“Change of subject,” Rachael said, leaning back against the wall. “What’s up with the old tattered doll Donna got the other day?”
Raph let out an exasperated sigh. “I offered her one of the finished ones. She refused, saying that one of the ones April brought would do.”
“Ah,” Rachael nodded. “She’s a dork. She would’ve felt guilty taking one of the nicer ones since you sell them.”
“I offered her one from my collection,” Raph said. “Before you say anything, yes, I keep some of them. I have my reasons…. She didn’t want one of those either.”
Rachael looked at Raph and his body language said it all. “You like her,” she teased and a smirk turned up the side of her mouth.
“Yeah, well…,” Raph glanced at her before taking another drink. “It’s unrequited.”
Rachael sighed. “Again, she probably felt like you were only offering the doll out of kindness and that she didn’t deserve it.” Rachael chuckled. “She’s a great fighter and she’s super smart. I mean, once she’s comfortable around you she has a quick wit and a sharp tongue. But, she’s insecure and thinks that, because of her weight, she is going to be the one who is settled for.”
“Don’t say anything to her,” Raph requested. “If she’s that way, I don’t want her coming to me because she feels sorry for me. I’ll rethink my approach though.”
“I don’t want to get involved one way or another,” Rachael said, holding up her hands. “This is all going to be a big mess before it turns into a happily ever after.” There was a moment of awkward silence and then Rachael decided to change the subject once again. “So what is this Battle Nexus that Michelangelo keeps going on about?”
“That.” Raph finished off his last beer and added the empty bottle with the others. “The Battle Nexus is an ultimate fighting championship held in the Nexus once every three years.” Before Rachael had the chance to ask another question, Raph held up his finger. “The Nexus is a dimension linking all dimensions, or something like that. To be honest I wasn’t really paying that much attention when they explained it. I just wanted to punch something.”
“When’s the next one?” Rachael wanted to know. “Will we get to go?”
“The next one is in a few months,” Raph answered. “If nothing else, you’ll get to go and watch so you get an idea of what to expect in the one after that.”
“I wanna fight in it,” Rachael argued.
“It’s not my call.” Raph shrugged. “It will ultimately be up to the Ultimate Daimyo, the head guy in the Nexus. You can argue for your chance when we get there. Until then, we need to train.”
“What are you doing up here?” Leonardo asked, seemingly coming out of nowhere. How the hell did he do that? He was standing so close to them and yet neither of them heard.
“Drinking,” Raph answered. “And, getting to know each other. We got a lot in common.”
Leo crossed his arms over his chest. “You know we are not supposed to be alone with one of the girls.”
Raph stood. Being up a few steps higher and being taller, Raphael towered over his brother but Leo wasn’t fazed by it in the slightest. “You know damn well that she’s not the one I want,” Raph growled. “Nothing at all was going to happen.”
“Splinter laid out the rules,” Leo snapped back. “We will follow them until he says otherwise.”
“Yeah. He said that we had to stay away ‘til we got our urges under control.” Raph argued. “I’m under control. There wasn’t a single moment where I wanted to fuck her.”
“Thanks,” Rachael quipped, adding her empty bottle to the rest. “That helps to boost my ego.”
Raph looked down at her and smiled. “You are totally fuckable, if all I wanted to do was fuck, but, as we agreed, our personalities would clash.”
With a smile on her face, Rachael rolled her eyes. “Oh that makes it better.”
“This isn’t a joking matter,” Leo chided them. “Why were you up here drinking anyway?”
“To get away from Mikey,” Raph answered as Rachael said at the same time.
“To get away from Michelle.”
Leo sighed. “Get back down stairs before Master Splinter or Master Sliver catches you up here.”
“We’re done anyway.” Raph leaned down to collect the empty bottles. “I’m going to work on some of those dolls April brought.” He made his way down stairs, leaving Leo and Rachael alone.
Leo looked up at Rachael and then started to step back, down the stairs. “I guess I should go.”
Rachael smiled and crossed her arms over her plastron. “What? You don’t have control over your urges?”
“I’m just following the rules,” Leo stated and turned to continue down the steps.
“Oh I get it,” Rachael teased though her tone remained flat. “You’re just like my sister, the perfect little student who always follows the rules. That’s all I need is two of you little goody two shoes.”
“It was hard enough having to put up with just Raphael. Now that we’ve finally worked through most of our differences, I’ve got you. I can’t seem to catch a break.” Leo turned to look at her. “I respect my father enough to follow his rules. They are there for a reason. You and Raph seem to go out of your way to break them.”
Rachael scoffed as she stood up. “We only have to stay away from each other if you can’t control yourself. Raphael and I were fine. There was no chance of anything happening. But you seem tense. Is that why you need to leave, Leo? You can’t control yourself…? Do you wanna fuck me, Leo?”
“That’s enough,” Leo hissed.
“You wanna bend me over and take me don’t you.” Rachael smiled, challenging him. She had always loved getting a rise out of her sister, pushing her to the edge so to speak. She wondered if she could get the same responses out of Leo as well. “You wanna fuck me, claim me, have me call out your name while you thrust your cock inside of me. Do you really think you’re man enough for me?”
“Stop it,” Leo yelled. “I’m not getting sucked into this.” His chest was heaving as he took as shaky step down the stairs. “You can stay up here if you like, but I’m leaving.” He turned and made his hasty retreat, leaving Rachael alone.
Rachael scoffed and shook her head. “You’re no fun, Leo,” she called out after him. She took a few steps down the stairs and noticed a wet spot where Leo had been standing. Bending down, Rachael touched it. The slick substance coated her fingers and gave off a musky smell.
He wasn’t mad. He was struggling to maintain control. What would have happened if he had lost that control? Rachael had to sit down. “Oh shit.”
